lf so much
as you do. But I was very, very wrong in meaning to tell you that
secret. I should have been miserable by this time if I had."

"But you promised. You must keep your promise. What would all the boys
say, if I told them you had broken your promise?"

"If they knew what it was about, they would despise me for ever meaning
to tell--not for stopping short in time. That was only accident,
however. But my secret is my own still."

Dale's curiosity was so strong that Hugh saw how dangerous it was to
have tantalised it. He had to remind his friend of Mr Tooke's having
put all the boys upon honour not to inquire on this subject. This
brought Dale to himself; and he promised never again to urge Hugh, or
encourage his speaking of the matter at all. They then went to
story-telling; but it would not do to-day. Hugh could not attend; and
Dale could not invent, while there was no sympathy in his hearer. He
was presently released, for it struck Hugh that he should like to write
to his mother this very afternoon. His heart was heavy, and he wanted
to tell her what was in it. Mr Crabbe gave him leave to go home; and
Dale was in time for plenty more play.

Hugh had the great school-room all to himself; and as the window before
his desk was open, he had the pleasure of the fresh air, and the smell
of the blossoms from the orchard, and the sound of the waving of the
tall trees in the wind, and the cawing of the rooks as the trees waved.
These things all made him enjoy scribbling away to his mother, as well
as finding his mind grow easier as he went on. Besides, he had not to
care for the writing; for he had met Mr Tooke by the church, and had
got his leave to send his letter without anybody's looking at it, as he
had something very particular to say. He wrote,--

"Dear Mother,--

"It is Saturday afternoon, and I have come home from the meadows
before the rest, to tell you something that has made me very uneasy.
If I had told anybody in the world who pulled me off the wall, it
should and would have been you,--that night after it happened: and I
am afraid I should have told you, if you had not prevented it: for I
find I am not to be trusted when I am talking with anybody I love very
much. I have not told yet: but I should have told Dale if Holt had
not run up at the very moment. It makes me very unhappy,--almost as
much as if I had let it out: for how do I know but that I may tell a
hun